Abigail: "You'll need some things."
Mary: "100 pounds of ice, an undisturbed room in the hospital, a large tub, a heart monitor... a low-reading rectal thermometer? What the hell is this?"
Abigail: "Hypothermia is the most efficient way to cardiac arrest that doesn't involve drugs or trauma."

Mary: "That's... nice. And who are we freezing, exactly?"
Abigail: "Mary, Emily is in the Underworld. The Afterlife. The Hereafter. Heaven, Hell, Hades... whatever you wish to call it. How exactly did you think you were going to get her back?"
Mary: "I don't know, I thought you could whip up some sort of magic tea. And maybe... chant or something?"

James: "Sure, because apocalypses are often brought about by tea parties."
Abigail: "To open the gate, someone must die."
Mary: "Right, okay, I guess I have some enemies... Oh! Let's get Stone!"
Tristan: "All in favour?"

Mary and Tristan both raised their hands; James rolled his eyes.

Abigail: "It's not a sacrifice. Not exactly."
James: "I don't like where this is going."
Mary: "It's one of us. One of us has to go after Emily."

Mary glanced down at the list again.

Mary: "Hypothermia doesn't kill vampires, does it."
Abigail: "A vampire is already dead. No death--no access."
Deanna: "That's our tragedy, isn't it? Soul eternally bound to flesh."

Mary and Tristan both jumped; neither had heard Deanna walk back into the room.

Deanna: "Mrs. Smith is in a bit of a snit. Seems they can't find Emily's labs. I'm sure they'll find them eventually. Of course, by then she'll have realized she lost the paperwork from Dr. Sutherland. Not that it will matter--apparently Dr. Waltham should be in surgery for another few hours."
Mary: "Good. Listen, I need you to go buy some ice. A lot of ice. Um, how many cubic feet would you say your trunk is, anyway?"

Deanna looked blankly from Mary to Tristan.

Deanna: "We took Tristan's car."
James: "Enough. This has gone too far--it's ridiculous."
Mary: "Shut up, James. Abigail, tell me how this works."

Abigail: "It's true--a vampire's soul is eternally bound to his body. When the body is destroyed, the soul is destroyed. The only way for a vampire to enter the underworld is with body intact. And the only way for a material body to enter the underworld is through a perfectly balanced combination of a human death opening a gateway and a hell of a lot of strong magic."
Tristan: "And you know this magic?"
Abigail: "I am one of few who know it well. This knowledge I cannot share with you or anyone. But I will perform the ritual."

The hair on the back of James' neck prickled. For Abigail to agree to this--it meant there were others. Others out there with enough knowledge and enough power to have disastrous outcomes should Mary and Tristan seek them out. Others who had seen this coming, who were waiting in the wings. He wondered what exactly Abigail had seen, what she knew, that made her return to Deception Pass for this.

James: "Fine then. This is a hospital; people are dying all the time. I'll hitchhike on one of those ghosts, and I'll bring Emily back. But none of this nonsense about killing anyone."
Abigail: "James, you know it can't be that simple."
James: "It never is."

Tristan was silent, staring at the floor. His foot tapped nervously, impatiently.

Abigail: "There is law of conservation with life and death. Emily can't return unless someone stays behind. And that someone has to go willingly, in her place. A random death that would have occurred anyway would not suffice."
Mary: "Great, so I go. I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this. I die, I send Emily back. No need for the voodoo vampire mojo, less risk of the cosmos imploding. Can we get on with it already?"

James: "Absolutely not. Abigail, this is not going to happen."
Mary: "Shut up, James."
Tristan: "We both have to go."

Abigail: "I believe that is the safest course of action, yes."
Deanna: "We?"
James: "We?"

Tristan turned to James, placing both hands on his shoulders.

Tristan: "It's going to be me. I have to do this. Please don't argue."

Deanna exhaled sharply, shaking her head.

Deanna: "Great. I guess I'll go get some fucking ice."
Tristan: "Deanna..."

But it was too late, Deanna was already out the door. Tristan didn't follow.

Abigail: "Mary's death will open a gate. You will go through it with her. We will bring her body back to life, keeping the gate open, but you must help her to stay there until you find Emily. Mary won't be able to do it by herself. You will be her anchor. But a vampire with body and soul... you can fool the gatekeepers, but only for a time. You will be ejected back to this plane eventually."

James: "Or, Plan B, I go find a grief counselor. Look, I love Emily too. But think of her, will you? Mary, do you really think she'll want to come back, having essentially killed her best friend? This is outrageous."
Mary: "You heard Abigail. Tristan can fool the gatekeepers. I'll just leave him behind. And then when they figure it out, poof! They'll send him back to earth for more eternal torment until his next really bad sunburn."

Abigail was silent.

James: "Oh, this is bloody brilliant. I can't think of anything that could possibly go wrong."
Abigail: "James."
James: "What!"
Abigail: "This is for the best. You'll just have to trust that."
James: "Somehow that doesn't make me feel better."

James was beginning to feel panicked, as though he was facing his own imminent death. Things were not right. He was starting to believe that suicide was a highly contagious disease; he'd never had the urge to die before--it was one of the reasons he'd allowed Anne to change him, to make him immortal. But now it seemed as though death might be the only escape from the madness living had turned into.

Mary: "Guys, I need to talk to James alone. Could you give us a sec?"

Abigail and Tristan nodded, leaving the room quietly.

Mary: "This is going to happen. You think you don't understand it, but you do. You know I have to do this, and you know Tristan has to do this. And I know it sucks for you. You might lose your best friend. Plus you could get arrested for murder. And you aren't sure it's worth it. But I'm telling you that it is. This world needs Emily. I need Emily. And Emily needs this world. She wasn't done yet. She didn't have a chance. And think whatever you will, but she did not go upstairs and willfully end her life. Something happened, and it wasn't right. It wasn't her time. I know it wasn't her time. And I'm going to make it right, by all of us. Even if the plan goes to hell, if I can just do that one thing, then my life has meant something, my time was well spent. So I need you to understand that, I need you to let this happen, and I'm going to need your help."

James: "Mary, I'll help you. But for the record, you're utterly stupid, and I hope you manage to get a clue in the Underworld. If you don't, then you may as well not bother coming back."

James stood up, letting Mary's hands drop.

Mary: "Okay, but you're helping, right?"
James: "I'll get started on Abigail's list."

Just as James disappeared around the corner, Mary jumped up, alarmed.

Mary: "Hey, no rectal thermometers! Just gauge my temperature based on how blue my skin is, okay? Okay?! James?"